Deuce Lutui

November 26, 2010

There is a famous story circulating around the world right now about a professional football player named Deuce Lutui. I'll have a lot more to say about Deuce in a future book I'm writing about coaching. For now you can get his amazing story at http://www.tbolitnfl.com/. Please go there and read.

You'll find that Deuce turned his whole professional life around in a single day. He was working with my own Jedi master coach Steve Hardison (http://www.theultimatecoach.net/) and declared himself to be, from that moment, from that heartbeat forward, the best offensive lineman in the NFL. He sent a text to Hardison with the acronym at the bottom: TBOLITNFL.

From that moment forward Deuce began playing differently…living differently. He had come into camp that year out of shape and overweight and disgruntled about his contract. He even called himself, looking back, "the Lindsay Lohan of pro football."

But once he declared his commitment on the inside, everything changed on the outside. He began playing like a man possessed. Announcers and sportswriters noticed. Other NFL players noticed:

"Deuce, what's gotten into you?"

Notice how powerful that question is. What's gotten into you? Not, "Where are you headed?" Because Deuce's commitment was internal, not external. It did not depend on any outside factor or circumstance for him to begin playing and living as the best offensive lineman in the NFL. The whole point of the "goal" (actually a transformation) is that it was internal. It was totally up to him, not others.

He even had a short version of it: "I am."

If I AM something, I don't have to stick with anything in the future. It's already in me. Like my heart.

* * * * * * *

Deuce Lutui's internal commitment to turn his own life and career around has inspired thousands of others to do the same. One exciting example here:

Bestselling business author and CEO at InfusionSoft Clate Mask has purchased 36 tickets for the Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the 49ers. There will be nine people in each end zone and nine people behind each bench up about 5-10 rows. They will be wearing T B O L I T N F L letters on their chests and backs. These will be t-shirts that spell out TBLOLITNFL. There will be 20,000 cards passed out to the lower bowl attendees with TBOLITNFL on them.

October 18, 2010

Everyone must see the movie SECRETARIAT and then figure out why you cried throughout .....when there was nothing sad in the movie. What was all the crying about? I was crying, people around me, crying. About this horse called Big Red. Later named Secretariat.

Was the horse shot or put down?

No! He retired peacefully to romp in the field with the ladies.

Then why is it such a moving movie with all of us crying?

I may have written the answer to this in an earlier book, and I may not have. But please see the movie to find the answer. And take anyone with you who needs a good cry, but not a sad cry. A cry of joyful rage, or raging joy, the tears that come when the soul sees itself for the first time.

Terry Hill loves horses like this. Terry is a writer who lives all over the world and who has been a friend of mine since we met each other in the sixth grade in Birmingham, Michigan. His short story, "Cafes Are For Handicapping," features an intriguing character named Joe Warner who liked to tell stories about horse racing. They were true stories.

Joe Warner told the story of being in the press box at Belmont when Secretariat put away the Triple Crown by 31 lengths.

"And I looked beside me when he was coming down the stretch at all these hardened, cigar-chomping New York newspapermen and they all had tears running down their cheeks like little babies. 'Course I couldn't see too clear myself for the tears in my eyes. I was 23 at the time. And it was the first Triple Crown in my lifetime. Imagine that."

That story brought me even closer to this question I've been asking all my life. Why do we cry when we see huge accomplishments? Why do we cry at weddings? Why do I cry when the blind girl jumps with her horse in the movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken"? Or when the Titans win the game in Denzel Washington's "Remember The Titans"? Why did those sportswriters cry to see that big horse win by 31 lengths?

This is my theory: We weep for the lost winner inside of all of us. In these poignant moments, we cry because we know for a fact that there is something in us that could be every bit as great as what we are watching.

We are, for that moment, the untapped greatness we are seeing.

But we get tears in our eyes, because we know the greatness isn't being realized. We could have been like that, but we aren't.

This movie reminded me of The Deuce Lutui Story. Deuce was in bad shape, coming into camp overweight and screwed up in his heart. He described himself as "the Lindsay Lohan of pro football." Then he met his Jedi coach and look at him now. Destined for the Pro Bowl: www.tbolitnfl.com.

Because he created himself to be the best offensive lineman in the NFL.....creativity......his coach Steve Hardison saw in Deuce what Mrs. Sweeney saw in that beautiful horse they called Red.

Terry Hill also gives public talks on creativity. His own work in advertising and public relations throughout the years has won countless awards and, as one might expect, he presents some learned and sophisticated formulae for "creating." But he finishes all his talks by saying it is really a simple thing to be creative----all you do is "get your stars out."

That's how you tap into the untapped you.

His reference is to Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger. Seymour is writing a letter to his brother Buddy who has chosen to become a professional writer. Seymour tells his brother that writing has always been more than a profession, that it has been more like Buddy's religion. He says that Buddy will be asked two very profound questions when he dies about the writing he was doing: 1) "Were most of your stars out?" and; 2) "Were you busy writing your heart out?"

Terry Hill's advice to his audiences on the subject of creativity is to make sure you "get your stars out." This is another way of saying let the stars that are in you shine freely. Don't force them out, just let them shine. This idea is also expressed in the song "From the Heart" written by Richard Leigh and Susannah Clark:

"You've gotta sing like you don't need the moneyLove like you'll never get hurtYou've gotta dance like nobody's watchingIt's gotta come from the heartIf you want it to work."

Although Hill's audiences are usually advertising people and writers, his recommendations apply to all of us. Our lives are ours to create. Do we want to create them in a lackluster way or do we want to be inspiring? When we write our plans and dreams, we need to write our hearts out. In shooting for the stars, it's time to get a bit wild. Wild hearts can't be broken.

October 13, 2010

Michael Neill (read his book Supercoach) sometimes talks about how good a coach a lamp post would be.

Many people who are just beginning as life coaches and business coaches worry about whether they have enough smarts and expertise to be an effective coach.

Consider a lamp post, Michael advises them. Let's say your client leaves his office each snowy evening and stops by a lamp post on his way home and just talks to the lamp post. Let's say he starts to do that every evening, unburdening the day's problems and vocalizing the possibilities and options for tomorrow. The lamp post will not talk back; it will just be there for him.

And by acquiring the habit of talking to his lamp post, this person finds his life is improving. It is gathering light. He feels a little less burdened each evening, and by expressing options and possibilities he even has new ideas he would not have had if he didn't talk to the lamp post.

So if a lamp post can do all this, imagine what you can do if you coach someone.

Coaching comes from the world of sports and the performing arts. That's why they call it coaching instead of "consulting" or "advising" or "counseling."

I remember a time when there was no coaching for people like you and me. There was only coaching for athletes and singers and actors. (Strength coach, voice coach and dialect coach.)

Here's the fabulous strength coach Matt Furey:

But soon a personal growth movement began as the world got more entrepreneurial and creative. No longer did people work for the same huge company at the same boring job and then get a watch and retire and wear the watch in the open coffin.

People and innovative businesses were rising up. People changed jobs and even careers, and soon anyone who really wanted to succeed was considering hiring a coach.

Why not? Two heads have always been better than one. If you want something achieved, are you not better with two people on the project than one?

A lot of people have thought that this explosion of personal coaching is absurd. Why should the average person be hiring a coach? A life coach? Are you kidding me? Don't you already know how to live?

But it's that whole average person thing. That's the problem. Being talked into blending in and merging with the wallpaper.

To those who have asked me why I have a coach, and why I've paid people to coach me, I ask them why should it just be for athletes and actors?

They say it's because athletes and actors can't afford to be mediocre. They have to be as good as they can be to keep their jobs.

Me: What if I want to be as good as I can be at my own career? Even if I'm not a pro athlete?

Q: But why do you need to pay for that? Why not do it yourself?

Me: Because coaching almost always works and doing it myself almost never worked. I was okay by myself, but I was never great.

Many times people choose not to get coaching because it would be spending money on themselves and it might look selfish or weak or both. They are afraid of how it might look.

I actually love investing money in my personal growth. I get a really large return in the investment, even financially (not to mention improvements in luminosity of mind, body and spirit).

Should I have invested that money in Enron, bought General Motors stock with it or given it to Bernie Madoff to invest for me?

I say no. I want it to go into coaching. I want to be fulfilled and I want to find out what I've got.

Otherwise, my life would have been a long, sad, gloomy compromise. A dark festival of regrets and missed opportunities.

No one should to go their grave with their music still in them.

That's where I was headed until I met my coach. He wasn't a therapist or a guru or a priest or a bishop or a soul mate or a boss. He was just my coach.

And from our first hour together, my life was never the same.

One quick example of what changed. Prior to working with him, since I was a little boy, I always admired writers and authors and always walked through libraries and bookstores as a child and later as a college student thinking how much I would just LOVE to write a book someday and be an author.

But it was too late for that. I'd already wasted 48 years compromising and doing whatever I thought would keep other people happy and the wolves away from the door. I blended in as well as I could. A real nowhere man.

After meeting my coach and receiving some very energetic "life coaching" I now have written 28 books, on topics from baseball to Jane Austen, four of them are international bestsellers.

Does coaching really work? People ask me that. If it didn't work, there wouldn't be coaching. It would not be growing so fast every year. As the hottest profession in the world.

And it's not just in the USA. I have been meeting lately with coaches from England and Canada and many other countries. It's not a fad, it's a force.

Why can't we all be athletes and actors and dancers and artist and singers? Get some coaching and you'll find out that we can.

My coach is the ultimate coach (dot net.) And those of you who have been following the Deuce Lutui story will want to see the latest here: TBOLITNFL.com

Please go there and read the story. Read it and send it to friends.

This story is going around the world (and it doesn't hurt that Deuce protected the Arizona Cardinals rookie undrafted quarterback Max Hall last week so that he could defeat the Super Bowl Champion Saints 30-20 in his first NFL start)….here's a little snapshot from Isla in Scotland:

"Dear Steve Hardison, The glorious autumn weather was with us here again today, so as the children are on school holiday at the moment we decided to visit a beautiful deserted beach on the West Coast. It is an utterly inspirational place, so it felt natural for my thoughts to turn to Deuce. I decided it would be fun to write TBOLITNFL in shells on the beach, and to share it with you....looks quite cool I think! Have a great day! Love, Isla x Sent from my iPhone"

Most people in Scotland don't already have a favorite offensive lineman in the NFL, so the timing is perfect. Deuce symbolizes something in all of us, a spirit yearning to express itself, previously held back by fearful stories. No longer held back.

People today walk up to me at a seminar and say "The story of Deuce is the story of you, and the story of you is the story of me." Well, yes! My old story was also fearful, and my new story is mine to create fresh each day.

Attention readers in UTAH! My ultimate coach Steve Hardison will be telling the inspiring DEUCE LUTUI story LIVE on October 30th, 2010 in Salt Lake City - 2:00pm-4:30pm the location is TBA. There is no cost to attend this transformational LIVE and VERY rare event of Steve Hardison speaking to a group. If you attend, your life will be forever changed. However a committed RSVP is required as space is very limited.

October 01, 2010

A whole lot of us, inspired by the Deuce Lutui story and how he fired himself up and created an inner place to come from called The Best Offensive Lineman in the NFL....(his text messages contain this code for commitment: TBOLITNFL)....are purchasing jerseys with Deuce's number 76 and then putting TBOLITNFL on the back.

We call ourselves Deuce's Team and we watch Deuce block people on Sundays, or, as the announcers put it last Sunday, we watch him move defensive players out LIKE A ROAD GRADER!

Here's a cool email from our team leader the ultimate coach Steve Hardison:

Dear members of Deuce's team:

Judy Robinett is a member of Deuce's Team and after seeing Dusan modeling his shirt wrote, "I have got to get one of those 76 shirts!" Deuce wears a 5x, I wear a large and my Amy wears a small. I purchased nine more this evening. As far as I know there are just over 40 in existence. If you want to purchase them, click on the link below and put TBOLITNFL as the name. The pictures below show the color our "Deuce's Team" will be wearing. It could be one of the most fun $99 investments yet. Thanks for all your support of Deuce as TBOLITNFL.

Years and years and years ago when I was just starting to recover from addiction, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to be, or what to do with my life.

I didn't know how to succeed at anything, so I would read a book way back then that would really excite me-like a Napoleon Hill book or a Colin Wilson book or a Tony Robbins book and this was many, many years ago. Anyway, it would really excite me and then I'd kind of lose that and it would fade away and I was back to "normal".

Well normal isn't really normal.

Normal means I'm believing my old negative thoughts about life again. That's my automatic default mode.....to believe all the past negative beliefs. But the real me, the really exciting me, was the one that woke up when I read that book. That's the real me.

That's what people don't get. They think they were artificially pumped up by some book they read, but that's really them. That's the real you trying to express and trying to tell you, "Hey, let's live like this all the time!!!!!"

So what I want to have handy is that book. I want to open it in the morning and re-read what I've highlighted. Speak aloud the paragraphs or sentences that excite me. Sentences that remind me of what I'm like when I'm thinking in real possibility-oriented ways and really upbeat creative ways.

I want to practice with myself, returning to that state, because I can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return myself to a motivated state. It doesn't have to come from outside of me. There is no "normal" me that has to show up as dreary and depressed and the same old, same old. That is not normal.

September 25, 2010

Deuce Lutui, the best offensive lineman in the National Football League, and a current huge inspiration to so many people for how he has turned his game around so dramatically.

At the beginning of this season he showed up a bit overweight and undermotivated. But that's when this immovable object met up with an irresistible force. That force is someone I've written about in most of my books, the ultimate coach, Steve Hardison.

Hardison has been my own coach for fifteen years. When I met him I'd never written a book and no one was paying money to listen me. He saw something in me (called the other 90% of me that was dormant, unused potential) and called it forth.

Then I, myself, called it forth.

And by the end of 2011 there will be 31 books written. Many of them bestsellers. I've spoken to more than 300 audiences. People read this blog.

So people still ask me at times, Does Coaching Really Work?

Watch Deuce play this year and find out.

And speaking of what football can teach us, I also enjoyed a VERY powerful article in Sports Illustrated about Owen Marecic of Stanford who plays both ways, fullback and linebacker. He is an extraordinary player, and like Deuce, operates from an umnovable commitment to greatness.

Marecic's coach Jim Harbaugh keeps on his office desk one of the several helmets Marecic has cracked while at Stanford. At Harbaugh's request Marecic signed the helmet, along with the words he lives by:

TODAY GIVE ALL THAT YOU HAVE, FOR WHAT YOU KEEP INSIDE YOU LOSE FOREVER.

Deuce Lutui has simple words he lives by too. It's a place he comes from: TBOLITNFL.